Fatal 401 crash ‘a horrible dream’
Tears and sadness fill the court at trucker’s sentencing hearing
The horrific consequences to family and community of just a few seconds of inattentiveness behind the wheel while on Highway 401 were detailed Tuesday in a courtroom filled with tears and sadness. “This is just an awful, horrible dream ... the pain is so unbearable,” Marlene Bastien said in one of nine victim-impact statements read out before Ontario Court Justice Paul Kowalyshyn.
A commercial trucker distracted from the road ahead for just a brief moment caused a horrific crash on July 30, 2017, that killed an Amherstburg woman and her teenage son. Lacie Brundritt, 42, and son Kyle, 14, were Bastien’s daughter and grandson.
It took 90 minutes to read through the messages of grief, emptiness and coping during a sentencing hearing for Manjit Parmar, 52, who pleaded guilty earlier this summer to five counts of dangerous driving, two of them with the added severity of causing death. “This comes down to a few seconds of not paying attention,” said defence lawyer Alan Gold of Toronto.
Both he and assistant Crown attorney Fred Creed made a joint submission recommending an 18-month jail sentence. The judge will announce his decision Oct. 10. Gold said the jail term being sought “may sound like a small number,” but that it was in the proper sentencing range based on similar previous court cases.
“No sentence you can impose will make these families whole,” Creed told the court.
While “the results are tragic, the consequences terrible,” Gold said the fact remains that “this is one event of dangerous driving.” A Brampton resident, Canadian citizen and father of three boys, Parmar was described by Gold as having an otherwise spotless driving record over 17 years as a commercial truck driver with more than a million miles on the highway. Married 27 years, he had no criminal record and no alcohol in his system on the day of the crash. Mike Brundritt was returning home with his family from a summer camping trip, their 2013 GMC Sierra towing a 16-foot RV on a warm summer day with good visibility. They were stopped on a straightaway at the end of a westbound line of traffic in a construction zone in Chatham that was wellmarked in advance at numerous spots along kilometres of preceding highway. Approaching the stalled traffic ahead at highway speed, the driver of the white 2007 Freightliner made no attempt at braking, the prosecutor told the court. Parmar was driving with a passenger en route to Indiana from Bolton, northwest of Toronto, along the same route, via Windsor’s Ambassador Bridge, he averaged three times a week over the previous year.
The tractor of the semi went through the RV of the Amherstburg family and landed atop their pickup, killing the mother and son seated on the passenger side. It continued on a path of destruction, smashing into three other vehicles before slamming into the rear trailer of another semi and coming to a stop. Michael Brundritt suffered a fractured back, Kyle’s younger brother Evan, 12 at the time, suffered head lacerations, as did a Michigan motorist in a 2016 Ford Fusion. “I thank God my new car was not my coffin,” said Philip Buffa, whose head “was bleeding like a faucet.” He and wife Carmen travelled to Chatham from their Michigan home and also supplied victimimpact statements on Tuesday. Both retired, the couple said they still live with the horror and physical consequences from that day. For Philip, the joy of driving and being on the road is gone. Brundritt told the court his strong religious beliefs, and the love for his remaining son, kept him from committing suicide.
“Before the accident, I had a pretty easy life. Married to the woman I love ... I had the life that others dream about,” said the border services officer.
He described the stress and anxiety of his current life lived “day-today ... I worry about my future and my son’s.”
“I learned I can cry just about anywhere,” said Brundritt, who due to crushed vertebrae must take physiotherapy for the rest of his life. But Brundritt described the crash that changed lives as an accident, and he offered forgiveness to Parmar.
Offered an opportunity to speak, Parmar stood, and facing the judge with the public gallery behind his back, said in a barely audible voice: “I am sorry for the family ... for the loss.”
Gold said his client will “obviously not be a truck driver, ever again.” Kyle’s girlfriend was among those who read victim-impact statements into the court record. “You’re not supposed to bury your boyfriend when you’re a teenager,” said Felicia Georgia. William Mower, Lacie’s brother and the uncle and godfather to Kyle, said his sister was “the glue that held our family together,” and that both his own children looked up to cousin Kyle as their superhero. Marlene Bastien said Kyle, with whom she would watch “scary movies, the scarier the better,” was more like a pal than a grandson. Kyle was described as tall and handsome and a talented athlete and skateboarder. Lacie, who loved to garden, would sing or whistle while cooking.
“It’s so quiet now,” said Bastien.